Follow Us

Major Layoffs At Michigan Papers As Owner Transforms To Digital-First

Booth Newspapers and MLive.com (the website for all eight of Booth’s papers) have restructured into a digital-first company, MLive Media Group, serving eight cities in Michigan.

That’s great!

The restructuring is resulting in the loss of 550 jobs across the state.

That’s…not great.

“We’ve been clear since the moment we announced the launch of the MLive Media Group that we’d be a smaller company as a result of the transition,” MLive Media Group President Dan Gaydou said.

The 550 people who have received layoff notices make up just under half of MLive’s Michigan workforce, Gaydou said, but “this is not representative of the actual number of employees who will or will not continue with one of the new companies. All of these employees are eligible to apply for new jobs within the MLive Media Group and Advance Central Services Michigan, and we have and will continue to encourage them to do so.”

The biggest cuts were at the Grand Rapids Press, where 146 people received layoff notices; 91 at The Flint Journal; 77 at The Kalamazoo Gazette; and on and on.